


The Final Chapter

by RORYhomie



Series: Evronians strike back [3]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures
Genre: Happy Ending, I promise, all ends well, also no capes!, donald is still suicidal, donald was a teenage superhero, duno if you squint, edna mode was right, until he isn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:54:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25240453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RORYhomie/pseuds/RORYhomie
Summary: Donald finally remembers the worst day of his life and suits up for the final battle to save his family. Revelations are made and Donald is glad he didn't die.
Series: Evronians strike back [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828426
Comments: 22
Kudos: 77





	The Final Chapter

_“Uno! Uno, I don’t know what to do anymore…they’re coming…how do I get the virus to spread? Oh mio Dio…this is it, isn’t it?”_

_“Che cos'è?”_

_Donald just looked at the blood covering his uniform and after a quick check, realized it belonged to him. His vision was a bit blurry and time seemed to have slowed down. Everything had clicked into place. Why his life had never seemed to be leading up to anything._

_“This is how I die.”_

_He got up from the floor and walked over to Uno, surprisingly steadily. He was completely calm now. He’d lived a good life. Seventeen whole years of it. And going as a hero was a good way to go.  
“Oh Donald, vecchio mantello, it isn’t. On the other hand, it is my time to say addio.”_

_SYSTEM OVERLOAD  
DISTRIBUTING VIRUS  
ATTENTION, SYSTEM OVERLOAD_

_The voice suddenly stopped as all of the building’s, no all of Uno’s, power got transferred towards the task at hand. Donald could tell because the lights started to flicker. In this silence, he could hear the rumble of Evronian ships, and everything started to shake._

_His legs, now not as steady as he had thought, failed him and the avenger fell to the floor.  
Still, he got up and dragged himself towards the bright green glow if his friend._

_“I could do it! Let me go, Uno! Please!”_

_He finally reached the orb and stretched his arms up to touch it. With a little effort the dragged himself up and pressed his forehead to the unusually hot glass surface._

_“Abbi cura di te, vecchio amico. Mi hai reso più umano di ... Grazie, vecchio mantello. Ti incontrerò di nuovo. Te…te……te………“_

_The light had flickered and then it was dark._

_“Te?” whispered Donald as an echo, his eyes closed._

_The ground shook again and the ceiling gave in and pieces of it fell over Donald, still holing Uno in his arms.  
This was it. No heroic deed. Just him. Stuck somewhere in the dark. Alone.  
Not alone, he remembered as he hugged the glass remnants of his friend.  
Not alone and not dead either._

_Everything was silent, what was falling had already fallen, and Donald realized that despite everything, he was still alive._

_He just lied there, waiting to see if the blood loss would get to him, if he falls asleep, but all he could feel was the increasingly sharp pain in his ribcage and horrible thirst. And then came a strange impulse – he had to get out. He had never been claustrophobic but now he just needed to see the sun or at least the sky. He had to get out._

_He started to furiously shove the rubble away, his palms were bleeding, leaving red smears on the concrete, but he had to keep going, pushed to his limits, he discovered, deep down, a survivor instinct.  
Finally, light. Too bright. He winced but after a while, finally looked at the city below him. His head was dizzy and his limbs felt weak, but he managed to find his shirt (the metal closet survived with his other uniform and his civilian clothes also intact) and he got ready to leave._

_Of course, he wanted to just sit down and cry…but he was so thirsty and dehydrated that he knew no tears would come out.  
After checking that the lift got stuck in the shaft close enough so that he could jump at it and later pretend he had been there all along when the firefighters come, he turned to what was left of his second home._

_“Penso di sapere cosa volevi dire,” he whispered and took a leap into the dark tunnel, “anch'io.”_

Nineteen years later, the same place, the same man reliving the same moment. His speech at the storehouse had caused Donald to painfully remember the day he had sworn to himself he would forget.  
After waking from his long flashback-induced trans, he walked over the cold grey orb in the middle of the room. He understood that Everett had rebuild the building, and he could even get the reconstruction of this secret floor – but why would a genius rebuild an interface to an AI which could no longer inhabit it? Maybe, just maybe, despite everything he had ever believed about the enigmatic billionaire, was Everett Ducklair feeling sentimental about his creation. Maybe even guilty. God knows Donald was.

Too emotionally exhausted to even change from his costume, and already feeling the sharp arrow of nostalgia in his gut, he decided he deserved to worsen his pain and do something which would hurt him even more.

So he turned on the TV and decided to search for Anxieties – the soap opera he and Uno used to watch together.  
He lethargically flipped through channels in hopes that they were still doing re-runs. 

“No, no, no, n- WHAT?”

Suddenly, the TV screen went black and the colour returned, to the hero’s shock, it was purple. 

“The Evronians must have found a way to disrupt the broadcast!” he thought as his throat and his fists clenched.

“We are speaking to Paperinik the Duck Avenger,” said the new general.

“Of course it’s always the ugliest one, who survives…” muttered the angry duck as he kept listening.

“We have followed you, hero,” he spat it out just like Angus Fangus had done in his address about a week earlier, “and we have listened.”

Oh phooey.

“We know, how to end you once and for all.”

This didn’t sound good.

“Your conversation today has revealed your secret.”

Donald froze and shakily stared at the screen, not even blinking.

“And we have taken your boyfriend, Donald Duck!” finished the general triumphantly.

Donald released the tension in his shoulders he hadn’t even realised was there - they were bluffing.

“And to make absolutely sure you don’t try anything funny, we have taken his family as well,” added the alien with a sly smile and pointed the camera at a group of birds chained to a wall of what Donald immediately recognised as the abandoned storehouse he’d left only about an hour ago.  
He was such a fool! He should have realized that the “cardboard cut-outs” were too realistic. 

“And don’t count on the newbies to step in for you either,” continued the purple fiend and the camera showed Gizmoduck and Darkwing immobilised next to the kids.  
“You have 30 minutes,” said the cold deep voice, “for every minute you’re late, we kill one. Starting with your beloved Donald.”

And the broadcast ended just as abruptly as it had started. But all Donald could see, was the image of his family, his kids – all four, helpless, trapped and in danger.  
He buckled his boots and picked up his shield.  
It was time for one last rodeo.

“So perché ho dovuto vivere. Per tenerli al sicuro. E lo farò. Grazie.”  
And Paperinik swung over the rooftops of the Duckburg houses, in full glory, fuming, ready for battle, ready to safe people and ready to win.

***

It had not even been fifteen minutes yet, when Paperinik stormed into the storehouse, breaking the metal door of its hinges.  
The two looming figures just stared at him in disbelief.

“Paperinik! You’re here! Already!”

“Sí, I got invited, didn’t I,” growled the hero.

The aliens just looked at each other.

“But-but you still won’t be able to save your lover, because…because…”  
“Because we’ve hidden him somewhere else!” shouted the other one gleefully.  
“Yes, yes that is true. That is exactly what we’d done!”

Paperinik just looked the all the chained figures and then turned his gaze back to his enemies.

“Let them go,” he said, voice dripping with anger.  
“No,” answered the two in unison.  
“Now,” the avenger continued, unphased.  
“You don’t get to impose conditions!” shouted the general. “We have the advantage this this time! There’s two of us, one of you and we have all of these hostages!! You will surrender! Drop your shield! NOW!!”

And the other one stepped forward to Paperinik, who only clenched his shield harder. If they wanted to fight, he could happily oblige.  
But the general didn’t join him, instead the stepped towards the hostages and aimed his weapon.

“You’ve heard our conditions,” he put his gloved finger on the trigger, “well?”

Shaking with anger, Paperinik lowered his shield and let it fall to the ground with a loud clatter. The Evronian jumped for it and threw it to the general. He observed it and pulled it on his own arm. Then he aimed it at Darkwing.

“I’ve been itching to see just how many functions does this thing have. What do you say, should I try that on the annoying knock-off?”

Darkwing, who looked like the fight had already been beaten out of him, lifted his head up in offence.

“Who are you calling a knock-off? I am the shadow that flaps in the night, I am the supernova that-“

Using the welcome distraction, Paperinik ran to the left and around the alien closest to him to get to his shield. He was almost there, he stretched his arm to grasp it, but he was suddenly jerked back, as the Evronian caught hold of his cape.

“No, no, no, Paperinik, you won’t be able to hide who you are anymore. You’ll have to fight us fair and square. No more powerful friends,” spoke the general as he punched Darkwing in the stomach, “no more techno-crutches,” he grimaced and squeezed Gizmoduck’s helmet with his giant hand, “just you, just a puny, weak, man.”  
He stopped next to the children.

“For almost twenty years, I had wished to kill you Duck Avenger, but now I have realized there is a far better option.”

Donald listened only with one ear, because all he focused on, were the terrified expressions on the children’s faces.

“To make you serve me until you die of exhaustion!” 

Before Paperinik could even realize what was happening, the general aimed the coolflame gun at him and pulled the trigger.  
It was a strange feeling, Donald was light-headed, as if from blood loss, no, as if he had drunk a lot. The world was a blur and he couldn’t focus.

“Yes! Finally!” he heard. “I got him!”

The voice no longer seemed so harsh and cold. It was almost pleasant sounding. A voice he could follow.

“…no…No…NO!” a different voice crashed into his calm hazy bubble. A higher, younger voice.  
“You can’t give up!” another young voice.  
“You have to resist!” third voice.  
“Think of Donald!” a fourth young voice.

The kids. The Evronians wanted to hurt his kids. And he can’t let that happen.  
He started moving his legs, dragging himself forward. His feet were unsteady and heavy, like on the day he had lost Uno.

“No, it’s impossible!” he heard the deep voice exclaim.

Another hit.

He continued forward. The children screamed and cheered him on.

“Stay! Put!”

Another hit.

He could only make out colour, but the red, blue, green and purple blobs gave him strength.

“Noooo!”

Three more hits.

His body was giving up, he felt as if he was in the rocket prototype heading towards Earth again. He felt as if he was burning again.

“The kids…” he murmled just like back then.

“Obey me!”

More hits, he couldn’t tell how many anymore.  
Not only was he feeling the flames, he felt lightning buzzing through him now.

“Why won’t you stay down?!” he could hear fear in the general’s voice now.

“Because you’ve made a mistake,” he started and the lightning struck his throat, “you’ve messed with my family.” 

And suddenly it wasn’t Paperinik, the Duck Avenger, saying that - it was Donald Duck. Both literally and figuratively, as the blasts have short-circuited his voice modulator.

But he wasn’t paying attention to that anymore, his insides were boiling, and he turned bright red. With a single bound, he jumped at the general and – he blanked. His rage was so strong that he had no idea what he was doing anymore. His only thought was that he had to save the kids. He bit, the teared, he punched and kicked and suddenly – shot. His enemy fell to the floor and Donald with him.

He looked at his hands in surprise and realized he was holding an Evronian gun. His vision had cleared and he was breathing heavily.

Still panting, he came to Gizmoduck and with the help of his shield, which he retrieved from the floor, broke his chains.

“Go help the others,” he whispered, painfully aware of his usual voice saying so.

Gizmoduck just nodded and headed over to Darkwing, Scrooge and Della, leaving Donald to help the kids.  
They were solemn and silent and after helping them to the ground, they just stood around awkwardly, looking at each other and at Della and Scrooge.  
The two hurried towards them and hugged them, checking if everything is alright.  
Fenton, who had slipped out from his suit, his mother, who Donald completely overlooked, and Darkwing with Launchpad, just stood behind the family and looked at Donald.  
In panic, he just nodded at them and decided that he was going to try and sneak out.

“Wait!” called Darkwing.  
“Yes?”  
“One of them got away,” to his discomfort, Donald noticed that everybody else had gotten silent again, “what do we do about him?”  
“Don’t worry about him,” assured him Donald, “he activated the emergency time travel and got to the future. I’ve dealt with him already.” 

A picture of a single ship flashed through his memory.

Darkwing nodded.

“So, you’ve been to the future?” asked Huey quietly.  
“Ehm…yeah?”  
“Ok,” answered the nephew, obviously not knowing what to do now.

“You guys were not dating, were you?” smiled Della, suddenly breaking the awkwardness of the whole situation. Leave it to her, to do something like that.  
“No,” he smiled back, “I don’t think that would be possible.”

“You know that you’re such an idiot though, right?” Her eyes glistened and she walked over to him and squeezed him in a tight hug. The kids and Scrooge followed her example. 

When they finally let go of him, after at least five minutes, everybody’s eyes were a bit glassy, including Donald's. And Launchpad's, who used Darkwing’s cape as a tissue, to Darkwing’s surprise.

“So,” sniffled suddenly Louie and reached into his hoodie pocket, “will you still sign my poster?”  
And he pulled out a big pencil drawing of Paperinik and a pen.  
“Of course.”  
“What else have you done, uncle Donald?” asked Webby.  
“Well,” he scratched the back of his neck in discomfort, “let me think.”

“I was a superhero, then I joined S.H.U.S.H. for a short while. Then I went to college, where me and the Caballeros had a band, and also kinda saved the world and fought an evil warlock. Then there was this portal, which sucked your uncle Goofy, me and our friend Mickey into a magic anime realm, which we had to save and where I was the warlock for a change. Then I joined the navy and then I was an adventurer with your uncle and mom. And then I became your uncle, and I think that’s pretty much it.”

“You worked for S.H.U.S.H.? Like granny did?” asked Webby again, full of surprise.  
“Eh, yeah. I think I even met her…maybe.”  
“That,” breathed in Dewey, “is so cool! You were awesome!”  
“He still is, lad” corrected him Scrooge and put his hand on Donald’s shoulder.

His eyes were sad, and Donald knew that he wished he had told him years ago. But then he smiled and perhaps it was better that it was now than had it been never.  
“Let’s go home, yea uncle must rest now,” said Scrooge but addressed the second part to Donald. Who didn’t protest, since he knew that the recovery from the coolflame gun would take a while. Some wound just do.

“Wait,” sounded from behind the Duck family. It was officer Cabrera.  
“I still think that you could give these two,” and pointed at her son and Darkwing, “a few pointers.”  
“Would they even want that?” asked Donald, looking at them.

They both nodded.

“Ok,” smiled Donald, “next week, same time, same place.”

Donald Duck turned around and walked out into the sun hand in hand with his family. Finally, he was whole. Finally, there was only one of him, and finally he could share this person with his loved ones.  
He knew that the next few weeks might be awkward and even uncomfortable, but if he had learned anything, it was that his family was the reason he was left to live, no, the reason he had decided to stay alive, and that they cared for his as well. He was loved and he deserved love.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Che cos'è? - What is it?  
> vecchio mantello - old cape  
> addio - goodbye  
> Abbi cura di te, vecchio amico. Mi hai reso più umano di ... Grazie vecchio mantello. Ti incontrerò di nuovo. Te…te……te………  
> \- Take care of yourself, old friend. You made me more human than ... Thank you old cloak. I will meet you again. I ... I...... I.........  
> Penso di sapere cosa volevi dire, - I think I know what you meant,  
> anch'io - me too  
> So perché ho dovuto vivere. Per tenerli al sicuro. E lo farò. Grazie. - I know why I had to live. To keep them safe. And I will. Thank you.
> 
> ***
> 
> Ok, you know how last time I said that it was a longest thing I had ever written - this has beaten it. It is almost the lenght of my bachelor thesis!
> 
> I know I have changed the comic book lore, I've binge-read all of the original Paperinik comics in February (in preparation for writing this) but I wanted to do something a bit different. But Uno isn't really dead - depends on how you read this, he will either resurface later and be made into Odin or it had already been done, and maybe he is somewhere in Italy or whatever. I also have no idea what happens in the newer comics - so if I'm contradicting them I'm sorry.
> 
> This fic was a wild ride, I have to tell you, it had taken me so long and I really really hope that the two people who wanted continuation of the Token of Truth, where the fam finds out about Donald being Paperinik, like it.
> 
> I wouldn't have made it without you @IsabelLove and @IsabellaNajera. (idk how to tag people on ao3, so I hope this works)
> 
> Also, it is called the Final chapter because, as much fun as I've had writing this, this is the last idea I've had for Donald and Ducktales in general and I really don't think I'll come up with anything else. I might, but don't count on it.  
> So it is the last chapter of Evronians Strike Back, but also the last chapter in the life of my Donald - who had finally had his happy ever after.
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading and kudos and comments, I read them all btw, and I just hope that my small mark on the Ducktales fandom will be a good one :-)


End file.
